A Money Coach in Canada

This week I’ve learned something startling. I’ve had an inside glimpse into how other people … eat! As part of “eat at home month”, I’ve seen the rather personal details of what woolywoman , 365daystildebtfree , and gildedbutterfly among others eat on a day-in-day-out basis. I posted my own menu thinking it was a deliberate ‘cutting back’ and ‘eating healthy’ … only to discover my new regime is the norm for other people! I found it both startling, and inspiring. I got some great ideas – like, simplify my lunches by having a soup or salad every lunch. End of story. Like always having snacks of nuts and dried fruit available. Like throwing leftover roast beef onto a salad. Seeing other people’s menus gave me ideas and a sense of what is possible as a lifestyle.

Do you ever wish you could find out how other people handle their money? One of the aspects of my work that delights me the most is ‘hanging back’ when I am leading money seminars, and letting participants give each other ideas and suggestions. I’ve learned a number of tricks myself – like the woman who, with a select group of friends, is part of a savings club. They each put in $ 50 a month, and every 5 months, it’s her turn to receive the money. The gentle peer pressure ensures each person contributes, effectively ‘saving’ for her turn. Like the man who gives his kids glass jars and has them each draw an image representing what they’d like, and week by week they put parts of their allowance (they choose) into the jar – a clear connection between saving and reaching goals! And of course on the other hand, it’s refreshing to just let our hair down and for once – for once – just get to talk about money: frustrations, inspirations, what works well, what not so much. There are many reasons why we don’t disclose our personal money habits to others, but in the right environment, doing so is always stimulating, interesting and motivating.

About the Author

Nancy (aka Moneycoach)Imagine if Canadians were known for being all over their money. Engaged. Proactive. Getting out of debt. Savvy. Saving. Generous. Nancy wants to help.
Nancy started her own journey with money over 15 years ago, and formed her company “Your Money by Design” in 2004 to help others along the same path. It’s not the usual financial advising/investment stuff. It’s about taking control of day-to-day finances –managing monthly cashflow effectively, spending appropriately, getting out of debt, saving.
If you're ready to take control over your finances, pop by her business site, YourMoneybyDesign.com

5 Comments

What a wonderful post! I definitely feel that opening up to people and engaging in positive dialogue about finances makes a huge difference in the way you look at yourself and your own financial situation. For me, the pf blogosphere does that, and a few of my non-blogging friends and I have that type of relationship, as well. Hooray for shared planning, both financial and edible! 😉

I think the blogosphere has done more to open up – finally!- this final frontier of ‘money’ conversation than any other single thing. If we do it well, we will empower and encourage one another to really get hold of this crucial area, and with any luck, discover we can do nothing less than alleviate poverty around the world. I’m not kidding — if we learn to stop buying stuff we don’t really want in favour of giving, what a difference that could make.

My lucky break:
On Saturday afternoon I rushed out the door to an appointment that would go well into the evening. In typical fashion – the style that got me eating out WAY too often in the first place – I hadn’t even thought about supper. I felt terrible when I realized it, at about 5pm. I was breaking this plan on only day 3! Of all things, a colleague for some inexplicable reason, had brought me supper! He had great leftovers from the evening before and just brought some along. He’s never done that before. The gods must have been smiling on me.

Yes nice post Nancy! Since blogging I have learned so much from other people, and quite often about things I would never think to ask in person about finances (if I were so rude! haha). Your website (Your Money By Design) was one of the first I came across with a link to Give Me Back My Five Bucks, and off I was reading PF blogs. I did not know you had a blog too until recently, but now I enjoy reading what you post- especially since the topics are so varied. Great idea about the savings club btw- I wonder if we could figure out how to do that online safely?